My chameleon will not eat

[brianlane88]

Chameleon: 6 month old male Veiled
Handling: Rarely
Feeding: 5-7 brown cricket, 5 meal worms (rotating) Gutloading crickets with Fluker's
Supplements: ReptoCal calcium dust
Misting: Daily See him drinking occasionally
Fecal: Taken this morning

History: No previous info

Cage: 16x16x24 screen
Lighting: 150W UVB bulb, don't know wattage of other bulb. Lights on at least 10 hours a day
Temperature: 80-90 depending on weather
Humidity: Don't know accurate levels
Plants: No living, branches for climbing, jungle rope accessory and bamboo
Placement: Corner of room, 12 feet away from nearest air vent
Location: Southern California

My girlfriend's veiled chameleon has recently gone off of feeding. It has been over a week since we last saw him actually eat. Last Thursday we took him to an exotic pet vet because we suspected that he had began to show signs of MBD (as he was somewhat dragging his hind legs). The vet gave us another calcium supplement called avi-con which we were instructed to give the cham twice a day orally with a syringe. He has shown improvement as he is not dragging his legs anymore but he just refuses to eat. I'm running out of options here. I've gone as far as to pull the hind legs off of crickets and place them in a dish so they cant get away. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Carlton]

Chameleon: 6 month old male Veiled
Handling: Rarely
Feeding: 5-7 brown cricket, 5 meal worms (rotating) Gutloading crickets with Fluker's
Supplements: ReptoCal calcium dust
Misting: Daily See him drinking occasionally
Fecal: Taken this morning

History: No previous info

Cage: 16x16x24 screen
Lighting: 150W UVB bulb, don't know wattage of other bulb. Lights on at least 10 hours a day
Temperature: 80-90 depending on weather
Humidity: Don't know accurate levels
Plants: No living, branches for climbing, jungle rope accessory and bamboo
Placement: Corner of room, 12 feet away from nearest air vent
Location: Southern California

My girlfriend's veiled chameleon has recently gone off of feeding. It has been over a week since we last saw him actually eat. Last Thursday we took him to an exotic pet vet because we suspected that he had began to show signs of MBD (as he was somewhat dragging his hind legs). The vet gave us another calcium supplement called avi-con which we were instructed to give the cham twice a day orally with a syringe. He has shown improvement as he is not dragging his legs anymore but he just refuses to eat. I'm running out of options here. I've gone as far as to pull the hind legs off of crickets and place them in a dish so they cant get away. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.

There are several things about your husbandry that need to change...and hopefully solve the hunger strike problem as well.

Chams who don't feel well or that are dehydrated don't tend to eat. If he does have some MBD going on he may be unable to control his tongue in order to shoot at prey. He can handle a week without eating much at all as long as he's hydrated. The longer they go without eating the lower their energy however so he could just not feel like eating or hunting. If he takes water by hand you could give him some diluted Pedialyte with water to give him some calories and electrolytes...it might give him a boost.

Mealworms are not a very nutritious feeder, so you need to try some other options to get him interested...insects such as small dubia roaches, superworms, waxworms, houseflies, dull colored moths, hornworms (not picked off tomato plants...buy cultured ones), and silkworms.

There are much higher quality gutloads than the Fluker's available from forum sponsors. How often are you using the calcium dust? Does it contain vitamin D3? The correct dusting schedule should be:

Daily: light dusting with calcium without added vit D3
Every 2 weeks: dust once with calcium with added vit D3
Every 2 weeks: dust once with a herp multi-vitamin

You need to track your cage humidity level to make sure he isn't chronically dehydrated...that can affect his tongue and appetite.

 

[brianlane88]

The calcium dust we use does have vitamin D3 in it. Would you recommend using the syringe to try and give him the fluids? And if so what ratio would you recommend for water to pedialyte?

 

[Carlton]

The calcium dust we use does have vitamin D3 in it. Would you recommend using the syringe to try and give him the fluids? And if so what ratio would you recommend for water to pedialyte?

So, you should be using the calcium WITH D3 once every 2 weeks, not daily. Overuse of the D3 can contribute to MBD-type problems.

If he's drinking at all (and you said he does sometimes) you would only want to try dripping the syringe full of Pedialyte (diluted with 1/3 water) on his snout so he can lick it off himself. Don't force feed him.

What I usually try is to start spraying the cage and watch for him to start swallowing/licking (sort of a reflex in response to the "rain"). Then start dripping it over his nose so hopefully he'll start licking it that way.

 

[brianlane88]

Update: he has started moving around normally again, not dragging his legs, but still refuses to eat. It's been two weeks now. He is drinking fine and getting mists every hour. Our vet told us we might have to resort to force feeding but I've heard that is extremely strenuous on the chameleon. How would you recommend feeding him if I have to go that route?

 

[kinyonga]

Please post a recent photo of him.

You can try to place an insect BETWEEN his teeth when his mouth is opening and shutting while he drinks. He may just eat it.

 

[brianlane88]

Here is a picture I just took of our little guy. We just hand fed him some dusted wax worms. He chewed them but is still not eating on his own. Might have to resort to hand feeding him till he gets back to doing it on his own.

 

[kinyonga]

Looks like your chameleon has MBD. It needs to see a vet to get injections of calcium until the bones and muscles and other systems in the chameleon are back to normal and then you need to be sure your husbandry is correct to keep it there.

Proper husbandry to keep it from returning once it's corrected, needs attention to UVB light, proper supplementing, feeding/gutloading the insects and appropriate basking temperatures.

Appropriate temperatures allow for proper digestion and thus indirectly in nutrient absorption.

You can feed/gutload the crickets, superworms, roaches, etc with a wide assortment of greens such as collards, escarole, endive, dandelion greens, kale, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini,sweet potato, etc.

For supplements its recommended that you dust the insects just before feeding them to the chameleon with a phosphorous-free calcium powder at most feedings to help make up for the poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous found in most feeder insects.

It's recommended that you dust twice a month with a phosphorous-free calcium / D3 powder to ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdosing it and leaving the chameleon to produce the rest of the D3 from its exposure to the UVB light.

It's also recommended that you dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. PrOformed sources of vitamin A cannot build up in the system and lead to overdoses like prEformed sources can and will leave it up to you to decide whether the chameleon needs prEformed or not.

Do you have a good UVB light?

 

[brianlane88]

We did take him to the vet and he has been getting calcium injections for over a week now. I'm going to double check all the husbandry today. And yes we have a 150W UVB bulb.

 

[oneillchameleons]

Unless that's a Mercury vapour bulb I highly doubt it's uvb. UVB lamps are fluorescent and generally not over 20-30 watts. You need to spend time on this site and correct several things about your husbandry. Your little guy is in bad shape but can still improve.

1. Calcium WITHOUT d3 at every feeding.
2. Get a UVB lamp, preferably a linear reptisun 5.0 or similar (these have to be changed every six months)

3. Heavy misting and get a hygrometer to read the humidity.

If you do these things his appetite should perk up